Orchard Software Review: Achieve Lab Efficiency & 98% Satisfaction

Lab workflow chaos doesn’t have to be your norm.

If you’re still battling disconnected instruments, slow turnaround, or manual test result checks, you know how draining a rigid LIS can be. That’s probably why you’re now exploring Orchard Software as a potential answer.

After reviewing user feedback and evaluating the platform myself, I found that manual processes slow down accurate reporting and frustrate lab staff in day-to-day work.

Orchard Software focuses on tackling these pain points with a highly configurable lab management suite, including powerful automation, unified pathology data, and a web-based enterprise platform for multi-site labs.

So in this review, I’ll explain how you can achieve faster, error-free lab operations by using Orchard’s approach.

You’ll get a thorough look at features, deployment options, pricing, and how Orchard stacks up against other LIS choices in this Orchard Software review, all through the lens of practical evaluation.

By the end, you’ll see the features you need to simplify complex workflows and feel more confident in your buying decision.

Let’s dive into the detailed analysis.

Orchard Software Overview

Orchard Software has been a dedicated leader in Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) since 1993. From their base in Carmel, Indiana, their entire mission is improving the accuracy and efficiency of clinical labs.

They serve a really diverse market, from physician office labs to mid-sized hospitals and independent reference facilities. What truly sets them apart, in my opinion, is their position as a dedicated ‘best-of-breed’ LIS specialist, not just another IT module.

Their 2021 acquisition by private equity firm Francisco Partners was a significant move, signaling major new investment. It’s a critical point for this Orchard Software review, as it points to accelerated growth for their next-generation platforms.

Unlike massive, all-in-one EHR vendors where the lab can be an afterthought, Orchard feels more focused. I believe their key advantage is deep lab workflow customization and more responsive support from true lab experts.

You’ll find them working with a broad mix of organizations, including busy independent reference labs, public health facilities, and hospitals that intentionally choose a powerful, specialized LIS over a single-vendor IT suite.

Currently, their strategic focus is squarely on their modern, web-based Orchard Enterprise Lab™ platform. This directly addresses the critical industry need for greater scalability and easier accessibility across multiple locations, simplifying IT management for you.

Now let’s examine their capabilities.

Orchard Software Features

Lab operations are still too manual and error-prone.

Orchard Software offers an integrated suite of products designed to streamline laboratory workflows. These are the five core Orchard Software solutions that transform how clinical and anatomic pathology labs operate.

1. Orchard® Harvest™ (The Flagship LIS)

Drowning in manual lab processes?

Managing high-volume clinical testing demands accuracy, but manual steps invite errors and slow down results, frustrating your team.

Harvest serves as your central LIS hub, automating patient, specimen, and result management. From my testing, its highly customizable rules engine shines, auto-validating results and flagging exceptions, significantly speeding turnaround times. This core solution helps you eliminate tedious tasks.

This means you gain workflow automation, reducing manual work and potential for costly errors in your daily operations.

2. Orchard® Pathology™

Is anatomic pathology slowing your diagnoses?

Tracking histology and cytology specimens through complex processing can lead to lost samples or delayed reports, impacting patient care.

Orchard Pathology is purpose-built for anatomic pathology workflows, from grossing to slide tracking and reporting. Here’s what I found: it supports structured reporting with templates, so pathologists can dictate findings directly, ensuring consistency. This dedicated solution keeps your AP lab running smoothly.

You get comprehensive management of AP specimens, ensuring all clinical and pathology data is unified in one patient record for a complete view.

3. Orchard® Enterprise Lab™

Struggling with disparate lab systems?

Large healthcare networks often grapple with scattered lab data across multiple locations, leading to data silos and inefficient IT management.

Enterprise Lab is Orchard’s web-based, next-gen platform for larger organizations, uniting clinical, molecular, and AP functions. What I love about this is how it simplifies IT management and offers browser-based access from anywhere. This solution eliminates the need for separate systems.

This provides you with consolidated, accessible lab management across all your facilities, improving scalability and data cohesion.

4. Orchard® Outreach™

Are external lab orders a bottleneck?

Managing orders and results for external clients via phone calls or faxes introduces errors and delays, frustrating referring physicians and staff.

Outreach provides web-based tools for your external clients to easily place orders, print labels, and view results securely. From my testing, results are immediately available via portal once tests are complete, eliminating manual communication. This solution simplifies client interactions.

You can provide physician offices with a convenient, accurate portal, cutting down on administrative tasks and improving client satisfaction.

5. Orchard® Point-of-Care™ (POC)

Is decentralized testing unmanaged?

Diagnostic tests performed outside the central lab often lack proper oversight, leading to inconsistent quality control and untracked results.

The Point-of-Care module centralizes management for decentralized testing, including devices, operator certifications, and QC. This is where Orchard shines; results transmit wirelessly to the LIS, ensuring all testing, whether bedside or in a clinic, is captured.

You ensure consistent quality and comprehensive data capture for all your decentralized testing, integrating it seamlessly into patient records.

You’ll appreciate how these Orchard Software solutions create a unified lab data environment, simplifying operations across different lab types. They seamlessly connect, providing a holistic view of patient diagnostics and improving overall efficiency.

Orchard Software Pricing

Understanding software costs can feel like a labyrinth.

Orchard Software pricing is entirely customized, reflecting its specialized nature for laboratory information systems. This means you won’t find public pricing tiers, but instead, a quote precisely tailored to your lab’s unique requirements.

1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors

Complexity drives your investment.

Orchard Software’s pricing model is completely bespoke, meaning your costs are precisely tailored to your lab. This personalized approach considers which modules you need, your lab’s size and test volume, plus instrument and EMR interfaces. Each interface adds a separate, one-time cost.

Budget-wise, this means you pay for exactly what you use, avoiding generic package overpayments. It ensures your investment directly supports your specific operational scale.

2. Value Assessment & ROI

Premium price, significant returns.

While Orchard is a premium-priced solution, its advanced automation and highly customizable rules engine offer substantial ROI for your lab. What I found is this system minimizes manual errors and speeds workflows, leading to improved efficiency and reduced operational costs over time.

Your investment translates into better accuracy and faster turnaround times, often outweighing the initial spend when compared to less robust or manual processes.

3. Budget Planning & Implementation

Plan for total ownership.

Beyond licensing, the total cost of ownership for Orchard Software includes significant upfront implementation, data migration, and training fees. From my research, these services are crucial for successful deployment and are quoted as part of your overall project cost, not an afterthought.

This means your budget needs to account for initial setup alongside recurring annual maintenance and support, which are typically a percentage of your license fees.

My Take: Orchard Software’s pricing prioritizes a tailored, enterprise-grade LIS solution. It’s ideal for labs needing robust, customized capabilities, ensuring your investment scales precisely with unique operational demands.

Overall, Orchard Software pricing reflects a commitment to bespoke solutions for complex lab environments. Engaging their sales team gives you a precise cost for your needs, ensuring a clear path to budget allocation.

Orchard Software Reviews

Do customer reviews tell the full story?

Orchard Software reviews offer balanced insights, reflecting real user experiences. I analyzed feedback from various platforms like Capterra and KLAS to understand what actual customers truly think about the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users seem genuinely happy here.

From my review analysis, Orchard Software maintains high user satisfaction, particularly concerning system reliability and stellar customer support. What I found in user feedback is most customers praise consistent performance and responsive technical assistance. This consistent positive sentiment contributes to solid ratings across review sites, indicating a stable and supported product.

This suggests you can expect a smoother operational experience and readily available help when issues arise.

2. Common Praise Points

Support and system power shine.

Review-wise, stellar customer support consistently ranks as Orchard’s top strength. Users frequently commend the team’s responsiveness and knowledge. Additionally, the powerful rules engine receives high praise for its extensive workflow automation capabilities, proving invaluable for tailoring lab processes. These aspects are repeatedly highlighted as key differentiators.

These strengths translate into highly customized workflows and dependable operations, critical for laboratory efficiency.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some usability concerns exist.

Common complaints revolve around a dated user interface, particularly for the legacy Harvest product, which some users find less intuitive than modern applications. What stood out in customer feedback is how reporting tools are often considered clunky, prompting some users to seek external solutions for complex ad-hoc data analysis needs.

These issues aren’t typically deal-breakers but indicate areas for improvement, especially regarding modern user experience expectations.

Overall, Orchard Software reviews reveal strong performance balanced with modernization needs. This objective analysis of user feedback should guide your decision.

Best Orchard Software Alternatives

Choosing a Laboratory Information System is complex.

The best Orchard Software alternatives include several strong options, each uniquely suited for different lab sizes, integration needs, and budgetary considerations, helping you pinpoint your ideal fit.

1. Epic Beaker

Already running Epic EHR?

Epic Beaker excels when your hospital is deeply integrated into the broader Epic ecosystem, prioritizing a unified patient record within one vendor’s system. From my competitive analysis, Epic provides seamless integration with your EHR, though it’s part of a significantly larger, more costly enterprise implementation.

Choose Epic Beaker if your organization is an “Epic shop” and single-vendor integration is your top priority.

2. CGM LABDAQ

Seeking a more budget-friendly LIS?

CGM LABDAQ is a strong alternative for small to mid-sized laboratories and physician office labs with more standard workflow needs. What I found comparing options is that this alternative keeps costs minimal for basic workflows, but typically offers fewer advanced customization options than Orchard.

Consider this option when budget is your primary concern and your lab has less complex, standard testing requirements.

3. Sunquest Information Systems

Managing very large, complex lab networks?

Sunquest has a long-standing reputation for robust, scalable LIS solutions for high-volume, complex lab environments. Alternative-wise, Sunquest handles enterprise-level volume and complexity for traditional lab operations, competing with Orchard at the top tier for very large organizations.

Choose Sunquest if you run a very large, high-volume lab needing a highly established and traditional enterprise LIS.

4. NovoPath

Specializing solely in anatomic pathology?

NovoPath is a highly specialized alternative designed exclusively for anatomic pathology workflows, offering deep features without clinical lab integration. My analysis shows NovoPath offers unparalleled specialization for AP labs, contrasting with Orchard’s integrated clinical and AP approach.

Opt for NovoPath when your lab exclusively performs anatomic pathology and needs dedicated, specialized AP features.

The best Orchard Software alternatives ultimately depend on your specific lab size and integration priorities, not just feature lists.

Setup & Implementation

Implementation is a significant undertaking.

This Orchard Software review highlights that deploying an LIS is a major IT project, not a simple plug-and-play. You’ll need a dedicated team and realistic expectations for the comprehensive process ahead.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

This isn’t a quick setup.

From my implementation analysis, Orchard’s deployment timeline varies from months to over a year based on your lab’s specific needs. It involves extensive workflow analysis, system configuration, and building critical interfaces. Complexity directly scales with your operations, requiring detailed planning to avoid delays and ensure a smooth go-live.

You’ll need a dedicated internal project team from day one. Plan significant time defining workflows and coordinating with Orchard’s specialists for successful implementation.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Prepare for significant IT involvement.

What I found about deployment is that it requires extensive integration with existing health information systems like EHRs and billing platforms. Your team will also connect all lab instruments and printers. This deep integration is critical for success, impacting your implementation’s overall speed and demanding robust IT resources for optimal performance.

Ensure your IT team is ready for network requirements and data migration. Budget for professional services, especially if integrations are complex.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption needs careful nurturing.

User reviews confirm comprehensive training is essential for all staff, from lab techs to pathologists. The learning curve can be steep for the powerful rules engine. From my analysis, through on-site and remote training is a key factor cited for successful go-lives and widespread user acceptance during implementation.

Invest in dedicated training programs and identify internal champions. Prepare for initial user resistance, ensuring clear communication about workflow changes.

4. Support & Success Factors

Quality support is non-negotiable.

Users consistently praise Orchard’s stellar customer support, noting it’s accessible and highly competent throughout the entire implementation and post-live period. Their dedicated team is a huge asset for guiding you from kick-off to a smooth transition, minimizing critical downtime.

Leverage Orchard’s support resources; they are truly crucial. Ensure your internal team documents issues and communicates frequently with vendor contacts.

Overall, Orchard Software implementation is a substantial but well-supported undertaking. With careful planning and strong internal commitment, you can achieve a highly efficient and reliable LIS for your operations.

Who’s Orchard Software For

Is Orchard Software the right LIS for you?

This Orchard Software review analyzes its best fit, helping you determine if its capabilities align with your specific business profile, team size, and use case requirements. I’ll guide you through who benefits most.

1. Ideal User Profile

For labs valuing specialized LIS power.

Orchard Software is ideal for independent reference laboratories, physician-owned labs (POLs), and specialty facilities focused on toxicology or molecular diagnostics. From my user analysis, you’ll thrive if your primary business is laboratory diagnostics and you specifically need a system that treats your lab as a profit center, not merely a cost.

These users find exceptional value in its robust, configurable features and dedicated support, proving highly successful in specialized, high-volume lab operations.

2. Business Size & Scale

Optimal for specific operational scales.

Orchard excels for small to mid-sized hospitals, clinics, and independent laboratories seeking a best-of-breed LIS. What I found about target users is that your team will find its capabilities perfectly suited when you prioritize functionality over EHR-integrated LIS modules.

You’ll know you’re the right size if you need a powerful, dedicated system without the complexity of a massive enterprise EHR deployment.

3. Use Case Scenarios

Strong for complex lab workflows.

Orchard Software shines when your workflows demand robust outreach tools, rules-based automation, and highly configurable reporting. User-wise, the powerful rules engine allows extensive workflow automation, ensuring efficiency for in-house testing and external client management.

You’ll find this works best if your lab requires deep customization for specialized tests or high-volume, automated processing.

4. Who Should Look Elsewhere

Not for all healthcare providers.

Orchard Software isn’t ideal for large hospital systems already deeply committed to a single, integrated EHR vendor like Epic or Oracle Health. From my user analysis, your needs may exceed Orchard if you require modern UI aesthetics or extremely flexible, ad-hoc reporting capabilities directly within the LIS.

Consider alternative solutions if your priority is a tightly integrated, all-in-one system or a more contemporary user interface.

The decision for your Orchard Software review comes down to your lab’s specific operational needs, desired functionality, and readiness to invest in a specialized LIS. Assess your profile carefully.

Bottom Line

Is Orchard Software the right LIS for you?

My comprehensive Orchard Software review evaluates its powerful capabilities against reported limitations, helping you determine if this established LIS leader aligns with your specific laboratory needs.

1. Overall Strengths

Orchard excels in critical lab operations.

Orchard’s standout strength is its stellar customer support, consistently praised by users. The powerful rules engine in Harvest enables extensive workflow automation, while the core products boast impressive stability and reliability. From my comprehensive analysis, implementation is also highly organized and supportive.

These advantages ensure operational continuity and empower your lab to customize complex workflows, directly boosting efficiency, data accuracy, and overall user confidence.

2. Key Limitations

Consider these key Orchard limitations.

A common critique notes the dated user interface, especially for legacy products, feeling less modern. Furthermore, while capable, reporting tools can be clunky for complex queries, leading some users to external data analysis. Cost is also a significant initial and ongoing investment.

These factors are not necessarily deal-breakers but demand careful budgeting and an acceptance of the current UI, which Orchard is addressing with new platforms.

3. Final Recommendation

Orchard suits specific lab environments.

You should choose Orchard Software if your lab prioritizes robust features, exceptional support, and deep customization over a cutting-edge UI. It excels for mid-sized hospitals and reference labs needing a best-of-breed LIS.

My confidence in this recommendation is high for labs with complex needs and a budget for a premium LIS solution.

This Orchard Software review demonstrates its strong capabilities for complex laboratory environments, provided you account for its investment and UI. Your decision confidence should be high.